Grizzly Hollow Used To Play Pretend

Here ya go @Rook <3 // Sunny 14*F, -10*C Midday

For once it was a sunny day. Chilly, but sunny. She was most definitely not a cryophilic wolf by any means, and while she didn't despise snow, she would much rather not have to deal with it. Winters had been much less harsh back in her birth pack, and so it was with great difficulty she was coming to acclimatize to the colder weather. But Spring was soon on its way, and with it, new blood. Yvly would make sure to isolate herself during those tension-filled times, but for now with the sun shining down on the widely spaced cedarwood trees, she padded along idly, eyes half closed as she basked in the warmth from above. On days like these she was less cranky, but as always she would prefer to be alone... however there was that one wolf from Willow Ridge, Wraith. He was nice, easy to get along with, and she didn't mind his company as she did others.

Reaching a somewhat clear area, the tawny female, upon spotting a nicely sized boulder, spryly leaped up onto the already warm surface and splayed out on her side, lounging in the suns rays. She knew she was open to a wolf randomly coming across her, as well as any predators in the area (those darn bears), but for the moment she didn't much care at all. If she could just have a few hours to herself, she would make sure to pick up some slack in her duties amongst the pack. So far she had yet to act upon either the two roles she wanted to attain, apart from the pack hunt a while ago, but she didn't really count that. On one paw becoming a scout would mean she would have the chance to explore more of the land and be a part in forming alliances with other packs, but on the other there was just something about the thrill of the chase, the blood pumping through her veins.

It was a very hard decision, and not one she would make now. So for the time being, she lay contently on the boulder, a soft sigh escaping her maw.

361 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

t'was there that we parted in yon shady glen

It was a funny thing being home, it didn't matter who or when or why. After such a long streak of wandering and searching and constantly being on the move, it was strange for Rook to be still in one place at any given moment. He didn't like it but, perhaps, he would learn again the meditative ways he had once sworn by - when his sister Bishop and his father Borden had been in his life... when he needed those hours of prayer the most. For the time being, he played everything by ear, keeping on his toes and mostly out of everyone's way.

So far, the only one who had really seen him had been @Tomen, but only in passing. When Quil had decided to keep looking for her sister Cinder, he found that he could not yet put down his roots again, the feeling of wanting to be productive keeping him on 'flight' mode for most of his waking hours. With that aside, the thought of seeing @Veho again, face-to-face, constantly had butterflies taking flight in his stomach and chest. It was apparent in the way the borders had been marked that things had definitely changed and he was not quite sure where he fit in anymore... or if the older Macieo still kept close the affections between them that had been fully borne on the summer winds.

In his mindless wandering, he found that if he had not come out of his daze, he might have missed her there. A stranger well within Grizzly Hollow grounds, just laying there and enjoying the sun. His nose instinctively twitched, both her scent and the winter chill reaching his nostrils. She definitely wasn't anyone he knew but she was clearly someone who had taken up refuge under Veho's reign. He steeled himself, timidity, once long lost, getting the best of him before he decided to approach.

He lifted his head as best as he could, assuming that he was his beloved's second-in-command as agreed upon before his departure. His tail followed suit in a lilting wag which, in turn, prompted him to smile and call out to her with a bark of salutation and a bit of small talk, "About time we've had some sun, don't you think?"

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

OOC here!

If the time had been one month prior the tawny female would have jerked out of her daze in a blazing force at the stranger who interrupted her, but now she simply opened an eye to see who had come across her, now much more comfortable with her standings in the pack and just far too lazy to care who it was. She hummed softly in response to his comment, mentally agreeing with the multi-coloured male and his mismatched eyes. Yes, it was about damn timed the sun decided to show its face. Any longer and she would have thought she would be living in perpetual greyness. After gauging that the stranger who, after scenting the air carried the scent of Grizzly Hollow, was not going to say anything further, she opened her other eye and with a luxuriating stretch sat up on the boulder. Dark amber eyes scrutinized him, taking note of the way he held his head and tail. It was only recently that she had smelled his scent around the pack lands, but she wouldn't make the mistake of thinking him a newcomer, he seemed far too relaxed in making small talk with her.

"I much rather prefer it when the sun is out," Yvly commented idly, tail tip tapping her hocks as she spoke, conveying her laziness. It was too nice a day to worry about saying the right things around others as she usually did. Maybe today would be the day where she didn't make a fool of herself for once. "I'm Crystal," she offered to the stranger with the curious eyes, knowing that he would respond with his own name if he was as nice as she thought he was. She was, however, terrible at judging a wolf's character in the first instant. It usually took her a few lines of dialogue to figure out if they were nice or mean, unless if it was pretty obvious. But seeing as he didn't force any type of dominance on her she figured he was more nice than mean, and was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

354 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

t'was there that we parted in yon shady glen

"I'm Rook," he answered. It was like a second-nature now, to not be as guarded as he had been, when he had first established Grizzly Hollow with the moniker of "Gaheris." With Willow Ridge and the Hollow being on neutral terms again, it was easier to just be honest; and, with the pack politics no longer an issue, it left him with a lot more headroom to vent and deal with the emotions he had bottled up. With Crystal, here, there was nothing to assume and no history between them to mentally refer back to. Apart from his innate shyness, this should have been easy.

For a while he simply smiled at her before he thought of a suitable topic. "You must be new," he commented, slowly approaching her perch and sitting an appropriate distance from it as to talk with her at a comfortable volume. "I've just returned from a trip from abroad; I hope you're finding your stay enjoyable?" This subject, he soon realized, only brought Rook's thoughts back to Veho. He did his best to continue to smile, his heart continuing to beat in its longing sort of ache. "@Veho's my partner," he divulged, surprising himself in the fact that he was able to voice such a thing after so many months apart and the frustrations from seasons past. Frankly, though, he knew that she could have taken the tidbit a couple ways. They could have been partners as in "allies" or "coworkers" in a sense of vocation or - as they really were - significant others. His tail swept across the snow behind him, "I trust he's made you feel at home?"

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

OOC here!

As she had presumed, the mismatched eyed male's response was to divulge his own name, and one that had her wolfy brows raising slightly. Rook. She'd heard that name before, back when she was very new to the pack. Veho had told her this Rook was the founder of Grizzly Hollow and former alpha, but former or not, she would still show her respect to him. And so she dipped her muzzle in recognition, a soft smile warming its way onto her maw. "I've heard a little about you," the tawny female admitted, noticing how Rook sidled up to the boulder she sat upon as to make conversing between the two of them easier. "Yes, I joined in the beginning of winter's throes." Back when the winter had been less severe, but as for the nonce, well let's just say she wished it was spring already.

Though she hadn't pushed for information from Veho as to why Rook was no longer among them, she had assumed from the way he spoke of the mismatched eyed male he hadn't left on bad terms. That was as far as she had speculated, the rest wasn't important. "The bears are a bit of a handful compared to where I come from, but for the most part, yes, it has been rather enjoyable here among the cedars," Yvly said with a warm smile, simply letting the words flow from her maw. Usually she wasn't so talkative, but maybe that was just a side effect of the sun's rays.

At the mention of Veho's name the tawny female's ears twitched, rotating to face him. The brown and grey male had spoken of Rook with a certain fondness that she assumed friends held for each other, not that she really knew, but her guesses weren't always that wrong. "He's shown me some of the ropes. He also told me that it was you who had founded Grizzly Hollow and created the tradition of using monikers." She now turned her body so she was fully looking at Rook, silently expecting an answer of agreement from the male. But she didn't speak in a way that was demanding an answer from him, merely curiously wanting to hear the words from the wolf himself.

375 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

(This post was last modified: Feb 03, 2016, 10:17 AM by Yvly.)

t'was there that we parted in yon shady glen

It would seem that his reputation preceded him and he was glad to hear that she seemed to be settling in just fine. "Ah, the bears should still be asleep for a while yet," he interjected with a smile, quieting again to let her continue on. The way she spoke about Veho warmed him from within, he found, and his cheeks felt sore as he grinned a little wider. It had been months since he had truly felt this sort of happiness - the kind that made his eyes light up and unload the worries from his chest and shoulders.

"I'm glad," he replied, nodding to her when she mentioned that it had been his idea to incorporate the use of 'secret names' into pack tradition. "And, yeah, it was. At the time, when I first helped found Grizzly Hollow with my father--" There was a pause in his sentence and Rook's brows touched one another for a second before he continued. "It wasn't safe with the Ridge and River wolves so close by." The image of Borden at the back of Rook's head dipped his muzzle, urging his son to keep talking. Rook had no more reasons to withdraw from a conversation on the old patriarch's account; his time for grieving had long since passed.

"Have you, um," he continued with a brief clearing of his throat. "Have you chosen your other name yet?"

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

OOC here!

Yvly noticed a pause in Rook's words when he spoke of his father, and how his brows furrowed as he seemed to think about what he was saying, but she didn't comment on it, merely giving him an encouraging smile. If the mismatched eyed male wanted to talk about it, she would let him in his own time. She knew when not to cross the line, especially when it was about family. Instead, she looked attentive, listening closely to what he had to say. Yes, she'd heard on the grapevine about how Grizzly Hollow and Willow Ridge weren't on the friendliest of terms, but from her experience of the Ridge wolves they weren't too bad... even though they seemed to have a habit of running into her. However, she hadn't even known about these 'River wolves'. "Are we on better terms with Willow Ridge now?" She asked curiously. If not there was always the chance that she could attempt to make peace with them on a scouting mission.

Her tawny ears swung back momentarily at the query of if she had chosen a moniker to use outside of pack lands. So far she had only trusted Veho and Wacipi with her real name, but if the grey and brown leader trusted Rook, then maybe she could too. "Crystal... is my moniker," she admitted, "But also the name I introduce myself as. I'm... not particularly fond of my given name." This was the first time she had given a reason as to why she preferred being called by her chosen nickname. "Which is Yvly," she added softly, dark amber eyes gauging Rook's reaction to her response. It wasn't that she hated the name, it just brought with it memories she would rather not think about. Glancing up at the sky, Yvly looked through a break in the trees at the mountains in the distance. The alpenglow she would sometimes watch was long gone, as well as the wolves in her memories.

330 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

t'was there that we parted in yon shady glen

"I believe so," he affirmed, recalling the brief meeting he had had with Morganna Archer that one fateful evening. He could have said more, but without being prompted or asked any more of it, all he could do was smile and nod. If the Archers and the rest of their kin had not caused any trouble in his absence, then he supposed the truce still stood. Perhaps it was a good thing that he and Quil had left and the rest of Grizzly Hollow laid low because of it.

Crystal, she then supplied, answering his question of secret aliases and code names. The twist was this: it was also the name that she had adopted over her given one, the one bestowed upon her by her parents or caretakers. The Lyall nodded quietly once more. "Both are beautiful," he complimented her. "Crystal, it is, then..."

He admired her for a second as she stole a glance up to the sky and to the mountains below it. The Mountain of Dire. Rook's fleeting thoughts returned to Borden and his travels, followed by the reunion he still had to brave with Veho. As quietly as he could manage, he stood up and turned his own eyes to the depths of Grizzly Hollow. "Have you seen Veho around, by chance?" he asked, already half-wondering if he ought to put his homecoming behind him already and stop skulking about the borders. "I should probably catch up with him soon."

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

There is a rabbit\'s nest nearby. +1 Health

Sorry for the wait @Rook! :/

A glimmer of a smile appeared on Yvly's maw at Rook's compliment. She was still a little unsure of how to act when praises and nice words were thrown her way, so she settled for a simple response. "... Thank you," the tawny female mumbled softly, ears twitching back and forth as she decided on what to say next. However, the mismatched eyed male seemed to have a question for her, one about Veho. With a soft hmm Yvly thought back to when she had last seen the grey and brown wolf. Ah yes, it was during the hunt with him and Wacipi. She still appreciated that they had given her the chance to show her prowess and initiate the chase.

"A little while ago," she admitted, dark amber gaze resting on his, "Just under a month, I'd say." She should probably get onto meeting up with him again and having a chat about her getting the scouting role. As of yet she hadn't been given any tasks, but as it was winter she understood there wasn't much to do other than keep the pack caches stocked and ready for any emergencies. "You have business with him?" Yvly asked curiously, one ear perking up to catch his response. She didn't want to get into Veho or Rook's personal life, but she knew very little about the latter, and what she did know simply caught her interest. Veho spoke fondly of him, like a close friend. She didn't have any of those, not yet anyways. Soon, maybe.

256 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.